Beautiful Agony

"We are all searching for someone whose demons play well with ours."

Chapter Seven

What do you wear on a date with a man who has lots of tattoos and is feared by everyone?

I look into my small closet at the minimal amount of clothes that I own and I bit my lip in thought. I have a strapless black knee length dress and a black skirt. I don't want to wear something that he get easy access to. I don't care if I look "sexy" or not. He could easily reach under my skirt or dress so I'm going with my nicest pair of white jeans. I'll wear my black quarter sleeve shirt with some lace on it and pair it my black ankle boots that I got last year and have barely worn. I look at the clock. It's 19:20. Harry said he would be here at 20:00 so I have 40 minutes to get ready.

I quickly put on my outfit and look in the mirror. I have decided to go out with Harry tonight. I have no choice because I know that Harry will really drag me out of here if I say no. I'd rather not get dragged and pulled tonight. I walk into the bathroom and start to straighten my hair. After I'm done, I apply a little bit of eyeliner and mascara and then I do a quick look over to make sure I look okay. Once I'm as satisfied as I can be in this situation, I grab my bag and sling it across my body. I check the clock again. It's 19:50. I walk into the kitchen to get my notebook and pen and put it in my bag. I have 10 minutes to spare so I sit at the counter and fiddle with my fingers, anxiously waiting for Harry to come. I hope this night turns out okay.

Right at 20:00 there's a knock on the door. I get up and walk to the door. I look out the small peephole and see a mop of brown curls. I unlock the door and force myself to open it. Harry is standing there in black jeans, the black boots he wore in the park, and a black dress shirt that is rolled up to the elbows, exposing most the tattoos on his arms. He wears that infamous smirk on his face and says, "Hello Ariana."

I smile slightly and he asks, "You ready?"

I nod and turn my back to him to lock my door. When I turn back around, Harry is right there in front of my face. He leans in closer and I lean back into the door to put some distance between us.

"You look beautiful Ariana." Harry compliments and I smile, my cheeks warmed.

You look good too.

He steps back and takes my hand, interlacing our fingers together. His hand is large and warm. We start walking down the hallway and onto the elevator. I really want to pull my hand out of his but he has a firm grip and I kind of like the feeling of his hand in mine, so I keep my hand locked with his. We ride down to the main floor in silence and then walk through the lobby. Josh has his office door open and when we pass by, his eyes widen at the sight of us. His face gets pale but he doesn't ever say anything. His eyes express worry so I give him a small smile to assure him that I'm okay. I can feel his stare on us the whole time we walk out the main doors. I doubt Harry noticed. He's too busy on looking straight ahead.

Once we step outside, Harry leads me to a black Range Rover parked on the street in front of this building. Harry opens the door for me and I nod a thank you and get in the car. I buckle my seat belt and before Harry gets in and starts the car. The radio turns on and music blasts through the speakers. I cover my ears and turn down the heavy metal music that was playing. I can hear Harry chuckle. "What you don't like this kind of music?"

I shake my head in disgust and turn the station to BBC Radio One. He groans and shakes his head. "Of course you would like this."

I just smile and look out the window, seeing all of the buildings pass by. We are in the car for about ten minutes just listening to the radio, when Harry pulls in to a nice restaurant. "I hope you like Italian." I nod my head at him. I love Italian food. Once we are parked, I unbuckle my seatbelt and go to open my door but he stops me. "Wait." I look over to Harry and he's already out of the car and walking to my side. He opens the door for me like a gentleman and puts his hand out. I smile at his actions and put my hand in his and get out. He locks the car and grabs my hand again, but more tighter than before. We walk into the restaurant and go to the podium where we are shown our seats. The girl standing there looks up and her eyes widen. She quickly looks down and then quietly asks, "How many?"

"Two." Harry replies and she nods, quickly grabbing two menus and avoiding eye contact with both of us.

When we pass by other tables, everyone looks up at us their eyes widen and they gape. I think I heard some gasps too. They get really quiet and fear washes across their faces and they look the other way or down at their plates. Harry's hold on my hand gets tighter and tighter with the more tables we pass. The girl leads us to the very back of the restaurant and when we get to our table, Harry pill my chair out for me and I smile at him, sitting down and putting my bag on my lap. Once we're both seated, we are handed the menus and the girl quickly scurries back to the front. I can feel everyone's eyes on me and it's making me uncomfortable. I look over to Harry and he is looking at the menu.

"What do you want?" He asks, seeming oblivious to our unwanted attention.

I shrug and look at the menu. I get out my notebook and write down 'Spaghetti Bolognese and a water.'

"Okay."

Our waitress comes over a few minutes later and Harry orders for the both of us. She walks away very quickly like the last girl did. I look across the and Harry is staring intensely at me. His stare makes me squirm in my chair and I ask Harry a question to try to get rid of the awkwardness.

'How old are you?'

"22."

I stay silent and he says, "You're 18."

'How did you know?'

"I've been watching you for sometime now Aria." He leans back in his chair, crossing his arms.

'That's creepy.'

He smirks and shakes his head. "No it's not. I have just seen you around a lot."

'I've never seen you.' I have never seen him before until that night I ran into him.

"Because you're too busy looking at the ground to know what's happening around you."

He got me there. I am about to reply when our waitress comes and places our food in front of us. We both stay silent while we eat. I feel incredibly awkward and don't know what to do with myself. What are you supposed to do on a date. I bite my bottom lip and twirl my spaghetti noodles.

"Stop biting your lip." Harry says to me.

'Why?'

"You don't want to know why."

I let go of my lip and write down a question that's been on my mind for a few days now. I'm scared of what the answer could be.

'Why are people so afraid of you?'

He stays silent and I start to regret asking but he finally speaks up. "I don't know."

I raise my eyebrows. 'You don't know why people are scared of you.'

He shakes his head. "No I don't. I can only guess it's the way I look. Do you know why?"

'I've heard things.' Ridiculous things that I would rather not tell you.

"Like what?"

'Do you really want me to say?' Please don't make me tell them.

"Yes."

'They said that you're a drug dealer and that you killed your girlfriend Lily.' I don't want to show him, but I reluctantly turn the notebook to him.

He reads what I wrote and then his jaw clenches. His hands ball up into a fist and he breathes heavily.

"How do you know about Lily?" He asks sharply.

I don't answer, afraid of what he's going to do.

"Answer me!" He demands and gets the attention of the tables that are around us.

'Everyone around here knows about her. They've all told me things about her.'

He stands up abruptly and knocks his chair over. He grabs me by the arm and drags me out of the restaurant. His grip on me is tight and I fight to get his hand off but he ends up squeezing tighter. Once we're out of the restaurant, Harry pulls me to the side of the building and pushes me up against the wall.

"What else did you hear about Lily? Huh? What else have people been saying about her?" He growls and his face is inches away from my face. I stay quiet and try not to look into his angry eyes.

"Look at me." His tone is cold and venomous. Here's the monster that people have warned me about.

I slowly turn my face towards him and look into his eyes. His eyes are now a very dark green, almost black. His pupils are dilated and he's breathing heavily. I don't do anything. I can tell that the less I say, the more he gets angry. I wouldn't say anything anyways. It wouldn't matter what I'd say. He'd still be angry.

His fist hits the wall next to my head and I flinch away from him. He yells and starts shouting curse words, his voice getting louder and louder with every word. "DON'T YOU EVER TALK ABOUT HER AGAIN! DO YOU HEAR ME!" His face is so close to mine and it's like I can feel the rage radiating off of him.

I nod slowly and his grip on my shoulders tightens. "You don't know anything about her." He hisses and then lets me go from his tight grip.

He steps back and starts to walk back to the restaurant. I slowly walk behind him, keeping some distance between us. He opens one of the doors and I just stand there. He rolls his eyes in annoyance and says, "Go in."

I shake my head. 'I want to go home.' This is not what I had in mind for a date. It's ruined and I don't want to be around him anymore. The rumors about him are true.

"You're not going home yet!" He snaps.

'Take me home!' I glare at him.

"No," he growls.

I turn around to walk away but his hand grabs my arm. "Hey, don't walk away from me."

I am turned around and pulled into him, but I push him away and before I can stop it, my hand flies up to his face. A loud smack rings through my ears and my eyes widen at what I just did. I slapped Harry. I don't even give him time to process it because I walk away from him quickly. I hear him call out to me but I quicken my pace to a jog and then to a full out sprint. I look back expecting him to be following me, but I don't see him or his car. I slow to a walk and start to make the journey towards my flat. It takes me 20 minutes to get back to my flat building. When it first comes into view, I sigh in relief. It takes me not even five minutes to get into the elevator. Luckily Josh wasn't in his office or I would probably be getting questioned right now. I lean my back on the wall and I can feel a headache coming on. I wait eagerly for the red number on the black screen to turn 7. It seems like forever when the doors finally open. I step out into the hallway and walk towards my door. I unlock the door and get into the safety of my flat. I close the door and slide down to the floor. I put my head in my hands and sigh.

Tonight was a disaster. I shouldn't have gone out tonight. I knew I should have stayed home.

Worst Date Ever.

Notes

So their date did not go well. Will Harry apologize and should Aria forgive him? I got finished with this chapter early so it's a double update today. I'm almost done with the next chapter too so that may be up either tonight or tomorrow. Also, I'm writing this story on my phone so if there's any errors or typos, I'm sorry. I try to proofread and edit before I post. I'm also trying to learn more of the British culture and terms. I'm American so I do not know a lot about England, but I'm trying my best to make it as realistic as I possibly can. Thank you for reading and comments are appreciated.